Candace Parker had to show him up on his turf.
A crowd gathered to watch the basketball power couple tough it out. It was a one-on-one battle between the Duke record-holder and the future face of women's basketball. They had faced off before in friendly matchups, but this time it was different.
“I know when I took her to my hometown in Oklahoma City we played a little bit harder,” Shelden Williams told WEEI.com in an exclusive interview. “We had a little crowd and everything, and she pulled a Bruce Bowen and put her foot underneath my foot and twisted my ankle.”
That's where the competition started ... and stopped.
Williams, an offseason signing of the Boston Celtics, and Parker, a Los Angeles Sparks forward, make it a point to leave their careers behind them off the court. At the dinner table they would rather talk about their baby daughter, Lailaa Nicole, than basketball. The normalcy of their relationship has allowed Williams to focus on his career as he prepares for his first season with the C's.
Ironically, it was the pursuit of victory that first brought Williams and Parker together. The two met when Parker toured Duke during her senior year of high school. At the time Williams, a 6-foot-11 power forward, was on his way to becoming the school's all-time leader in rebounds and blocked shots, as well as a two-time NCAA Defensive Player of the Year. Parker was one of the most dominant female high school athletes in the country, and she had her choice of scholarships. Duke was a must-see on any standout's prospective list.
They spoke briefly during the campus visit but eventually fell out of touch after Parker decided to attend the University of Tennessee. However, they made contact during her sophomore year and the connection between the two of them was immediate.
“Honestly, we just hit it off right away,” Parker told WEEI.com in a telephone interview. “Our first phone conversation we talked for seven hours, from like 11 o'clock at night to 4 or 5 in the morning. He had to go to lift weights, so that's the reason we got off the phone. We just hit it off, and that's the way it was. We had fun together, we laughed, we talked about other things besides basketball, and I think that that was the most important thing.”
That call blossomed into a three-year relationship. During that time Williams, like David Robinson before him, became the third player in NCAA history to record at least 1,500 points, 1,000 rebounds, 350 blocks and 150 steals. He helped lead the Blue Devils to the NCAA tournament for four consecutive years, and was taken fifth by the Atlanta Hawks in the 2006 draft.
Parker, meanwhile, became a superstar at Tennessee. She led the Lady Vols to back-to-back NCAA championships and became the fourth female player to capture consecutive NCAA Final Four MVP honors. She skipped her final year at college to enter the WNBA, and she was selected by the Sparks with the first overall pick in the 2008 draft.
After the couple had taken their games to the next level, they did the same with their relationship. In November 2008, they eloped after a year-and-a-half engagement.
Parker's transition to the WNBA would be a quick one. In her first season she became the first player to take home both Rookie of the Year and MVP honors. However, Williams’ transition from NCAA superstar to NBA superstar was proving more difficult. The big man showed promise in his rookie season with the Hawks, averaging just over five points and five rebounds per game. He ranked first among rookies in double-doubles, played in a team-high 81 games, and earned the organization's Bob Pettit Award for hustle.
The following season he played in 36 games off the bench for the Hawks before being traded to the Sacramento Kings. There, he would appear in in just 58 games over two seasons. His averages fell to less than four points and three boards per game.
In February 2009 Williams was traded to the Minnesota Timberwolves and had similar results. At the end of his third NBA season he was averaging 4.7 points and 4.2 rebounds.
As quick as critics were to label Williams a bust, they were even quicker in hailing Parker as a female Michael Jordan. Comparisons of their careers, however, have never fazed Williams.
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